Bengaluru’s Kempegowda International Airport (KIA) is gearing up to witness a historic event two weeks earlier than previously announced, with the Airbus A380 expected to touch down on October 14, Friday afternoon. The A380 is the world’s largest commercial passenger plane currently in operation. Emirates Airlines will be flying the aircraft to the Karnataka capital from Dubai. The Airbus A380 was earlier expected to land in Bengaluru for the first time on October 30.
Emirates Airlines' flight number EK562 is scheduled to take off from the Dubai International Airport at 10 am (local time) on October 14 and land at the KIA at 3.40 pm (local time). On the the return journey, passengers will travel on board flight number EK563 in an A380, leaving Bengaluru at 6.40 pm (local time) and reaching Dubai at 9 pm (local time).
Gearing up for the maiden flight of the Airbus A380, the Bengaluru airport tweeted, “Our engineers and operations team are testing infrastructure and processes. We are waiting for the big day with bated breath.”
The Emirates Airbus A380 will land at #BLRAirport on Oct 14. Our teams are gearing up for this historic maiden flight to #BLR. Our engineers and operations team are testing infrastructure and processes. We are waiting for the big day with bated breath.#Emirates #Smoothlanding pic.twitter.com/Ly0hUK3CFb
— BLR Airport (@BLRAirport) October 12, 2022
Bengaluru is one of only four airports in the country which are equipped to handle the landing of the Airbus A380, with the others being Delhi, Mumbai and Hyderabad. Bengaluru will be the third Indian city after Delhi and Mumbai, to receive the aircraft.
The Airbus A380 is a full-length double-decker plane with a seating capacity of more than 500. On the Bengaluru-Dubai route, the daily A380 flights will offer seats in economy, business and first classes.
According to the airline, A380 seats in the economy class will be wider with extra legroom, while the business class will offer fully flat seats and the first class will have private suites and shower spas.